Ravi Prasad - Biographie
Biographie
Short Biography ----------------------------------------------------------
His versatile talent and great artistic freedom find their roots in his childhood, growing up in a family of Radjas in Kerala (South India).
In 1985, he moves to France carrying a solid reputation as a carnatic (sacred) songs singer and is soon interested in jazz, electro-acoustic and contemporary music. A compulsive interest translating itself into collaborations with Bernard Lubat, Gérard Marais or the great flamenco guitarist Pedro Soler (several tours in Germany, Spain).
He likes sounds without discrimination, collaborates with artists such as DJ Goze (Buddha Bar III compilation) or Talvin Singh (Saint Denis Festival, London Opera House, Théâtre des Champs Elysées).
But above all Ravid Prasad is a show-man. He teams up with choreographer Régine Chopinot for 3 creations with the “ Ballet Atlantique ” (Hue Festival in Vietnam, Festival of Avignon, tours in India) and gets interested in the musical and mythical tradition of his homeland with “Malbar Experience” (collaboration with musicians from the Reunion island) and with “Ponguël”, a musical in which he is first of all an actor along with Céline Arnaud. The retreat he took from his own culture allows him to dissociate himself from a millennial tradition in the first “Indian Polyphonies” ever composed, as well as the Indian symphony “Mythia” created in 1996 at the UNESCO Palace and the Olympia to celebrate the 50 th anniversary of the United Nations.
In parallel Ravi Prasad regularly involves both amateurs and professionals in workshops leading to actual shows. The last one was an original creation with 45 percussionists and singers – all teachers and students of music schools - presented near Seynod at the festival “Les Impulsives”.
Ravi Prasad is currently working on a cabaret project involving clowns, magic, fairy tales and dancing.
“Tradition is the basics of all. But any artist has to find his own tradition within tradition. What has been done five minutes ago is the past; it is already part of the tradition. The artist has to turn himself towards creation and keep the tradition alive that way: he is a link”.
His taste for acoustic experimentation and musical crossbreeding knows no limit, Ravi Prasad will therefore always be found where he is least expected.
